WWE '13: More Creative Suite and Online Details

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Even more power is in your hands.

By Richard George

Take one step into WWE ’13’s creative suite and you’ll quickly realize how much power is at your fingertips. Serving as the ultimate resource to reshape and recreate the world of wrestling, THQ not only empowers its fans to do anything they want with these tools, but is improving its online efforts to enable these resources to be shared around the world.

Many of this year’s improvements might seem small on the surface - like enabling color selection to be across an entire spectrum versus through preset choices, or giving PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 owners access to the same number of layers when creating superstars - but they will be critically important to those looking for them. Beyond this, though, THQ has focused on a number of larger areas.

Exit Theatre Mode

Creating arenas has transitioned from simply customizing a ring and its immediate surroundings to detailing a show’s stage as well. Any number of WWE sets past and present can be accessed and adjusted, from color options and logo usage to the size of venue and type of its audience. These arenas can also be used online and in Universe modes, increasing their versatility and rewarding those that take the time to create them.

THQ is also augmenting its existing storyline creation toolset, allowing players to craft narratives that last from one show to one year (up to 500 matches and including up to 15 superstars). Over 300 new scenes will be available for the mode’s cutscene designer, which also allows for branching paths and decision-making by the player.

What’s more critical to all of these creation modes is that anything can be downloaded from THQ’s servers, edited, and then uploaded again. In other words, players will not only be able to create their own masterpieces, but tweak and further perfect what others have been working on, allowing for community-driven collaboration that will far exceed anything that even THQ could manage over several years.

Exit Theatre Mode

The adjustments to online functionality won’t end there. Acknowledging the problems that plagued WWE ’12, THQ vows adjustments have been made not only to address match latency issues, but the reliability of the creation suite servers as well. The development team is also working to adjust to several fan requests, such as removing the need to upload created content before playing with it online, and allowing AI opponents to fill out matches if not enough participants can be found.

Naturally some aspiring designers will make their custom superstars overwhelmingly powerful while others might be a bit more restrained. For those looking to fight online using default settings, stars and moves, THQ has created a “fair fight” option. Leaderboards will also factor in this setting, so that the best players in the world will be assessed by a common metric versus a competitive environment where anything goes.